Kurt Are Boine Nikkinen, 31, was on his way home from a fishing trip when he spotted a white albino moose in Tanadalen, 30 kilometers east of Karasjok in Finnmark County in northern Norway.

Around Wednesday midnight, the albino moose was out in a field, just about 100 meters from the road.

"It stood and looked at me," Nikkinen told

The Finnmark man had a video camera in his car and filmed the moose, also driving after it when the moose ran along the road, and at one point was only about 20 meters from the animal.

"It was completely white and had red eyes," Nikkinen said.

After a while the animal turned and crossed the road behind Nikkinen's car before disappearing into a field on the other side.

"It was a great experience to see and film it. It is not the kind of thing you experience more than once in a lifetime," Nikkinen said.

The Finnmark man had heard rumors of the white moose before and there have been sightings of the animal in the area. Nikkinen believes the moose is a youngster, about a year and a half old. A hunter himself, he said he could never shoot the white moose.

"It would make a special trophy but it won't be on my wall. Such a fine animal should be protected," he said.

A white moose appeared in Østfold County in southern Norway last October and sparked a heated debate about whether it should be hunted or preserved.